The feared Friday night ratings war is off. AEW Dynamite will not go head-to-head with WWE SmackDown on January 1, 2027 after all — instead, Dynamite will air in the afternoon following a college football game, wrapping up before SmackDown even begins.
AEW Dynamite (Credits: Ringside News)
Dave Meltzer Corrects AEW Dynamite January 1 Schedule
On the October 31 edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer clarified AEW’s New Year’s Day television schedule, admitting his original reporting about a Friday night head-to-head battle was wrong. “When I first got the news, I actually had a mistake there,” Meltzer said. “I’ve since found out that the Dynamite show on January 1st, Friday now is going to be after the football game.”
According to Meltzer’s corrected information, Dynamite will begin sometime between 3:30 PM and 4 PM Eastern — and finish entirely before SmackDown takes over Friday night. “It’s going to start from — be around between 3:30 and 4 Eastern, and it’ll be over before SmackDown starts.”
College Football Lead-In Instead of WWE Ratings Battle
The change of plans is a major relief for AEW. Instead of trying to pull viewers away from WWE on Friday night — a move Meltzer called “really bad” — Dynamite gets a potentially valuable college football lead-in audience. Meltzer noted the slot gives AEW a chance to reach viewers who don’t normally watch wrestling, but cautioned: “They have 15, 30 minutes to really deliver something in front of an audience that normally will not be watching the show.”
The clarification matters because AEW shifting Dynamite to Friday had raised questions about whether Tony Khan’s company was preparing to challenge WWE directly. It won’t be. Instead, AEW gets a Friday afternoon showcase with a built-in football audience — and WWE keeps Friday night to itself.
Also Read: AEW Dynamite Viewership Drops To 620,000 Against World Series Game 5, Stays Above 600K
Source: Ringside News — read the full story there.
